How to Make….. A Mothers Day Keepsake

I originally wrote this post for Father’s Day, but it works just as well for Mother’s Day, so why not treat the new mum or new gran in your life to a lovely personal keepsake!

These salt dough keep sakes are so simple to make – they need very few ingredients, cost hardly anything and would also be a fun messy play activity to do with the kids!

All you need is:

1 cup of flour

1 cup of salt

1/2 cup of warm water

baking paper/foil

paint and ribbon (optional)

Instructions:

Measure out the salt and flour into a bowl and then add the water and mix together wellThe more that you mix the dough the smoother it will become. You are aiming for a sort of creamy mash potato consistency! If it’s a bit too wet then just add some more flour and if it is a bit thick add some more water.

2. Remove the dough and roll it out on a floured surface. Roll it to a thickness of about half a cm to 3/4 cm – you want it thick enough to get a good indent but not so much that it impedes the drying process. Again, the more you work it the smoother it becomes.

3. Cut or mould the dough into your preferred shape – I used a scone cutter to produce a nice smooth circle

4. Place your dough onto a piece of foil or baking paper on a baking tray. (I used a spatula to get mine off the counter without squishing the edges and poking it out of shape too much).

5. Persuade your child to make a hand print in the dough! This was the tricky bit for me as my 6 month old is very fidgety and obviously didn’t understand why I wanted him to do it! It should be easier with younger children who won’t fidget or with older ones who will understand what is being asked of them….should be!

6. Finally if you want to be able to hang your keepsake then use a straw to poke one or two holes in the top.

7. You can now pop them into the oven to dry. You want the temperature as low as possible so it dries rather than bakes, you don’t want it to puff up. I put mine on gas mark 1/2 for 3 hours. If it is still doughy after this time just leave them for another couple of hours.

8. Remove them when you are happy they are dry and when they’ve cooled enough peel them off the paper/foil and check the bottoms. If the underside is a bit doughy still then put them back in face down for another couple of hours.

9. When thoroughly dried you can take them out and once cooled string them up or paint them or add any decs you like! You can choose to leave them as they are and they still look nice.

My two without holes for hanging turned out better than my prints for hanging, which is typical, but getting Freddie to make 4 was a challenge! I had a go at painting mine in vibrant colours, but I think I actually like the white one best. It shows the hand print off really well.

I hope you give this a try and I would love to see what you make if you do have a go. These are perfect to display or to add to a memory box.Have a wonderful Mother’s Day everyone